Circle Research Joins Ranks with Next 15

Next 15 is the owner of various PR agencies including Text100, MBooth, Morar, and the Outcast Agency. This week they announced that they are mixing their data and insights subsidiary MIG Global Limited with Circle Research, based in London. Circle research brings their clients such as MasterCard, Facebook, Google, and Vodafone with them.

Manhattan Welcomes Small Girls PR

Williamsburg and Brooklyn’s communications firm, Small Girls PR, is moving to Manhattan and leasing space at 150 West 22nd Street in a sublease with one of AOL’s subsidiaries for nearly 7K square feet taking over the entire 11th floor for at least the next two and a half years. Small Girls specializes in marketing campaigns and events and was founded by Bianca Caampued and Mallory Blair (CEO). The name for the firm references that both women are 5’3” or less.

The new office is located in the Flatiron District of Manhattan and has eight conference room. The move is made in part because of their recent growth and will allow them to be closer to some of their clients such as General Electric, Ellevest, and Rent the Runway. Now with more than 40 employees and looking to fill another eight positions, they have doubled in size in almost every way over the last year.

Recently a Singapore courts sent Yeo Jia Wia, formerly of Swiss bank BSI to jail for money laundering and cheating regarding charges to siphoning billions from 1MDB, Malaysian sovereign fund. Yeo Jia Wia was a former associate of Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) in Singapore. Low seems to have dropped out of public view, and the public prosecutor Nathaniel Khng said Low is one of the “key persons of interest” in the case since he was the adviser for the state fund. Although Low seems unreachable, Rasky Partners responded to a recent request from Reuters for a response to the allegations. The PR firm said: “Any attempts to link Low to the recent guilty pleas by parties allegedly making secret profits are based on unfounded assumptions.” They continued by saying that no allegations were proven against Low on the case in Singapore or any other jurisdiction. “This is an example of overreach with a politically motivated and selectively chosen narrative alleging 1MDB as a “victim, the allegations are flawed, biased and create an inaccurate picture.”

Power of Women in PR Proved by Recruiter Dennis Spring

Dennis Spring compiled a list of 77 employee benefits and perks that are indicative of how the power of women in PR offices is increasing. Some of these perks and benefits include family and medical leave, childcare, and paid maternity leave/family leave. Most of these 77 items also apply to men, and some of them are currently required by federal law. But additional perks are also showing up in workplaces that include free massages, casual dress policy, birthdays off, summer hours, tuition assistance or help with student debt, company laptops or smartphones, working remotely, and broader vacation time allowances.

Working remotely seems to be especially popular. When living in places with a high commute time, working remotely offers the advantage of more free hours on days when the employee doesn’t have to factor community into their time schedule. It also allows for mothers to work without having to find a care center for children. Even with all these added perks, women who make up more than 70% of PR workers lag behind in the top leadership positions as well as pay, and so a lot of work still needs to be done to equalize those and other factors.

Burson-Marsteller UK Promotes Stephen Day as their New CEO

Stephen Day has been in the UK office of Burson-Marsteller since 2014 where he began as the company’s managing director of public affairs and political communications. In the beginning of 2016, he became that office’s second-in-command. According to the company leadership, Day’s background in the political arena should be especially helpful as the UK begins its exit from the EU.

Citibank and Monroe Capital will be pumping fresh capital into APCO Worldwide according to a recent announcement from the PR holding company. Some of that capital is earmarked to buy out the firm’s minority investor, WindRiver. The rest will be held to fund future growth opportunities. APCO is the third largest independent PR firm in the world, and according to their founder and executive chairman, Margery Kraus, this deal should allow them to remain independent and possibly increase their standing in the PR world.

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